1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to electrical plugs. More particularly, the invention relates to a safety device for preventing finger contact with the blades of an electrical plug during its insertion or removal from an electrical outlet or wall socket and to a method for attaching the same to an electrical plug. Specifically, the invention relates to a safety device which can be attached to an electric plug and which provides a shield that extends outwardly toward the tips of the blades when the plug is out of the wall socket and that collapses when the plug is inserted into a wall socket.
2. Background Information
There is a growing concern for the safety of infants and young children. Particularly, the concern is for children who have not yet reached the age at which they may be reasoned with and instructed as to the dangers of household electricity. Such children may typically range in age from that of a toddler who may yet only be crawling—typically, seven to 15 months of age—up to preschool aged children who have yet to learn discipline, or have yet to reach the age at which they may be spoken to about the dangers of certain actions which they might undertake.
Almost any home where any such children live or are expected to visit, will possibly have covers placed over any unused wall sockets so as to preclude prying fingers or child-wielded objects from being inserted into the electrical wall sockets. When these covers are in place on unused wall sockets, the danger to a toddler is greatly reduced as the wall socket is not accessible and the covers are difficult to remove. When, however, a household appliance such as a lamp, is plugged into a wall socket, a completely different danger exists. In this instance, the toddler may be enticed to remove and reinsert the plug into the wall socket. This exposes them to the risk of contacting the blades of the electrical plug while they are still “live”, i.e., while between 110 and 130 volts (in North America) is imposed across the blades. If the blades are contacted by the toddler's fingers, there is a high risk of electric shock to the toddler.
Devices have been proposed in the prior art for reducing such a risk. U.S. Pat. No. 6,577,081 B2, issued Jun. 10, 2003, to the present inventor, discloses such a device. U.S. Pat. No. 6,577,081 discloses a safety device on a transformer for an electrical appliance such as a baby monitor. The transformer has electrical blades projecting outwardly therefrom and a cavity is formed in the transformer housing around the area from which the blades project. An insulator is disposed within the cavity. The insulator is collapsible when the blades are inserted into a wall socket and expandable when the blades are removed from the wall socket. The insulator is in the form of a bellows-like structure that has convoluted and compressible walls.
While this transformer is specifically manufactured to ensure that the electric shock risk to toddlers is reduced, there are numerous standard electric plugs, both grounded and ungrounded, where there is no protective feature to prevent toddlers' fingers from coming into direct contact with the electrical blades of the plugs while they are live. There is therefore a need in the art to provide a safety device for use with standard electrical plugs.